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Sunday, November 2, 2014

All that candy..........

I think I can speak for most mamas out there, that after Halloween, it is all about candy management. Initially our little cherubs only want "one more piece...promise!", but that ends up still being a bunch!

What do we do with it all?! I know that some families donate it to a dentist and the kids get paid a certain amount per pound. Other families take it to a local drop-off center and it is shipped to troops stationed oversees. I've even heard of a "switch-witch" who comes to the house after a few days and switches out all the candy and in its place, leaves a desired toy. All good ideas, but as I said here, I've been feeling pressed upon to be a bit more intentional.

And then the Holy Spirit nudged me and I realized we could use the candy to demonstrate the tithe to the girls. Now don't get me wrong, using candy is certainly not a deep spiritual thing, but it is relative to their everyday life and (at least right now) pretty powerful and meaningful. Exactly the way that our Christian walk is suppose to be.

In Malachi 3:10 the Lord says: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord God Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it"--NIV

10%. That is all the Lord requests. The first 10%--not the leftovers, or the 10% after I've paid all my bills, or if I have money left over at the end of the month, but 10% right off the bat. And then watch and wait. Watch how I will pour out my blessings. Watch and see the overflow I will provide if you trust in me. Interestingly enough, this is the only place where the Lord challenges his people to test him. Everywhere else in the Bible we are specifically warned "not to put the Lord your God to the test"--Deuteronomy 6:16.

The Lord knows how hard it is to trust him with our stuff. Whether it is candy, toys, our 401K, our time, whatever. But when we do, how it pleases him!

So that's what we did. During our weekly family time (will have to blog about that later), they counted the candy out into groups of 10 (hey, instant math lesson--bonus!) to find the total amount. Then the girls closed their eyes and picked out 10%. We wanted to make sure that they didn't just pick the candy that they didn't like. Remember, the first 10%, or the best, not the leftovers or scraps.

When all was said and done, both were excited to give to the Lord (success!!) and while it was obviously more meaningful for the Noodle, I've no doubt that Mei Mei understood that a portion of her candy was being given back as well. We prayed over the candy, that the Lord would use it to bless someone else just as we had been blessed and then we packed it up. We still have a boatload of candy to manage, and while their teeth may rot, at least (hopefully) their little souls will have a better understanding of what it means to give back the first-fruits to the Lord.